Tourist Attraction in Reggio Calabria:
Politeama Siracusa

The Politeama "Siracusa" is a private theater of Reggio Calabria, the oldest of the few (and prestigious) existing in the city. It is the first cinema-theater of post-earthquake reconstruction of 1908. Until 2009 it was managed by the Regional Agency for the Right to Education on behalf of the "Mediterranea" University of Reggio Calabria, with a schedule of prose seasons , jazz music and quality cinematographic retrospectives, much appreciated by the public Reggio (also young), alongside the usual experimental university exhibitions of Mediterranea Teatro Laboratorio "Le Nozze", directed by Renato Nicolini and Marilù Prati. Since 2010 it has been entrusted in management in 201, to the nascent Temporary Purpose Association established by the "Horcynus Orca" Foundation is flanked by a vast partnership of cultural associations and operators of the sector, strongly rooted in the territory, which in various capacities and competences have joined to the management project, promoting it and supporting it. The "Siracusa" Cinema Theater with the Grand Caffè "Siracusa", designed in 1921 in Art Nouveau style by the engineers Barbaro and Canova, embellished with some bas-reliefs by the sculptor Ezio Roscitano, was built in the area where, before the 1908 earthquake, began the tortuous path of the Salita Santa Lucia. At the crossroads between Corso Garibaldi and Via 2 September, a revolving door opened, allowing the entrance to the café, from where you could access the Politeama, which overlooks the Corso with different entrances. A small chalet was built, limited by the courtyard of the Magistral Institute by a wall covered with vegetation, which was the background of the music box and gave a suggestive look to the whole garden shaded by a wisteria arbor. On the Corso, an iron railing decorated with flowers, rather low and with a gate, bordered the sidewalks where so many people used to stop to listen to the music performed by the maestro Nino Battaglia and the good violinist nicknamed "Sci Sciò". The tables were always occupied by the same group of "Viveurs" and people in sight with very open ideas and inclined to those pleasures that life offered and that they did not let slip. In the city, the Caffè-Cinema Siracusa always talked about itself not only for the bohémiens who frequented it, but also for the traditional Carnival and New Year's Eve celebrations, for the celebrations of Fascist celebrations, for the lectures of famous people from the culture of time and for the famous theatrical companies that trod his scenes, among which: Angelo Musco, Ruggero Ruggeri, Achille Maieroni, Gualtiero Turniati, Memo Bernassi, Macario, Wanda Osiris. The Politeama Siracusa was inaugurated on December 22nd 1922 with the staging of the opera Otello. The elevations present an articulated rhythm rich in innovative elements: on the lower basement there are the pilasters ending on the capitals decorated with floral elements, which stop on the median line of the openings and continue with relief elements also decorated. On the upper floor the balconies follow each other following a precise rhythm of full and empty; on the portion of the theater's façade there are three recessed rectangular openings, while the vertical elements are advanced and the balcony has a tripartite arched opening. The canopy of the theater entrance is made of wrought iron, also with floral decorations. The balustrades of the balconies, in a cement structure, are particularly valuable in the decorations that alternate geometric shapes and floral motifs. The same decoration can also be found on the balcony of the curved corner where it is possible to admire the floral decorations that surmount the architraves of the rectangular openings. Inside the theater it is still possible to admire refined floral decorations.

Attractions in Reggio Calabria